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Sunday, 12 August 2012

Like for like remakes...why?!?

I’m clearly not the first person to talk about this, but
there is still an issue with original thought and creativity in Hollywood. Not only are
they still churning out remake after remake (I tremble when I think of the
up-and-coming attempts at the “Verhoeven Three”: Robocop, Total Recall and
Starship Troopers!) but still we keep seeing like-for-like remakes of excellent
foreign films, re-shot nearly frame-by-frame in the US to capitalise on the
original’s brilliance.

Tomas
Alfredson excellent Let The Right One In

Take, for example Quarantine: at face value, a decent,
found-footage zombie film…in reality, it’s a carbon copy of the fantastic
Spanish original, [Rec]. And Let Me In is just an impostor to Let The Right OneIn, all draped in the garbs of Tinseltown. In fact, horror seems to be a
favourite when doing over great world cinema…Ringu became The Ring (only saved
by the fact that a subtle storyline change meant they had to draught a brand
new movie for the US sequel, bringing in Ringu’s director Hideo Nakata to craft
it), Ju-On became The Grudge, and even para-normally brilliant The Eye and the
moody Dark Water also got re-fitted (to be fair, this last one isn’t too bad!).

Vanilla Sky's twin, Abre Los Ojos

Personally, I was most frustrated about what I thought was
the amazing “Vanilla Sky”. After watching the DVD extras it gave the impression
that Cameron Crowe had crafted a masterpiece, including covering an entire
room’s floor with script pages…complex as it appears to construct. Then, I was
pointed towards a film that somehow passed under my radar (by the only person who’s
a bigger fan of film than me…my mum!), the beautiful Abre Los Ojos. Not only is
the film superior to Vanilla Sky, but they are almost identical in very
way…even casting Penélope Cruz in the same role in the remake was a brave move
(she is ever so slightly better in the original) but didn’t make up for the
fact that it was a blatant exploitation of an unique Spanish movie.

Look…I can understand that some people can get annoyed by
subtitles, but I always try to re-assure people that this frustration fades
over time. “Well, try watching Night Watch”, I say, “as the on-screen text is
placed strategically around the screen to draw your eyes to points of
interest…there are even funky effects on some of the subtitles!” Do they watch
it after my suggestion? Of course not! But they’ll find no injustice to
watching a shoddy, badly cast reproduction of the original print just so it’s in
their native tongue.

The insanely brilliant Infernal Affairs

I have to admit, I’m not totally against the principle of
remakes in general. If they are creatively re-approaching subject matter and
aim to stand on their own two feet, then it’s a worthy artistic endeavour. For
example, this works when you think of such incredible films like The Thing and
The Fly. This has been perfectly demonstrated with world cinema too, especially
in the Westerns genre with The Magnificent Seven (Seven Samurai) and A Fistful
Of Dollars (Yojimbo), but it rarely happens in modern cinema. One movie that
managed it well is Martin Scorsese’s first Oscar win, The Departed, based one
of Hong Kong cinema’s best films of recent
years, Infernal Affairs. Scorsese's version never shied away from for the fact
that it was a remake, but it still carried a touch of class and identity that
proved that it can be done with style. In fairness, David Fincher’s version of
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is a decent output, with great performances and
a different vibe (plus some of the best open credit sequences ever committed to
film…watch out Bond!). Some of these are even in my Top 10 Decent Remakes post
here, so the overall premise is a sound one, as long creativity still thrives.

But I still have fear for the future…it’s been announced
that there will be English speaking version of both OldBoy and The Orphanage. Two
amazing movies that, in the wrong hands, could fail in their re-birth. Is it
right that Hollywood
should continue in this facade? Maybe world cinema re-do’s in future should vastly
promote the original foreign version out of respect (but I can’t see that
happening unless it’s built into the contract)? Should there be more investment
in new writing talent to allow the industry to produce some unique content?

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About Me

I'm a film buff who, like many of you, trawl the Internet on a regular basis for upcoming news on the latest cinema releases.
I've taken it upon myself to start a blog in order to promote independent and foreign movies.
Each week, I'll be selecting and reviewing a film that fits this unique criteria, along with other interesting posts linked to the cinematic realm.